Pressure Cooker: Why Mahomes Saw Unprecedented Bills Team Sunday

“They had a really good plan,” Mahomes said afterward. “They have good pass rushers, made a good plan of doing some games and stuff up front and pushing the pocket, so credit to them. They had a great plan, and they have great players, and they made a lot of plays today.”

Game over

Those games, stunts and twists on the defensive line, had the Chiefs confused. And not only did McDermott and Babich pressure Mahomes more than any game in five years; Joey Bosa had a sack and five quarterback hits, tying the defensive end’s career high from five years ago.

In a tie game, Bosa made two consecutive plays in the second quarter to thwart a promising Chiefs drive. He diagnosed Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s initial carry and dropped the back for a 2-yard loss, then beat Jawaan Taylor to hurry Mahomes on an incomplete pass.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Bosa’s bull rush on Jaylon Moore and last-second swim move gave Bosa his first official sack and led to the fourth-and-17 situation.

Mahomes, who finished with the lowest completion percentage of his career (15 of 34, 44.1 percent, explained afterward why the pass rush was so effective.

“Just when they're playing the man-type coverages,” Mahomes said, “trying to get some guys open down the field, and they did a good job of pushing the pocket. So, I got to be better working the pocket, find different lanes to step up through.

“But when I was able to, we were able to hit some shots down the field, but I’ve just got to be more consistent with that.”

Degrees of patchwork

Kansas City’s offensive line has been in some level of patchwork mode since Oct. 12, when rookie left tackle had to leave the team for personal family issues. Moore has started each of the last four games in his place.

And while Trey Smith returned Sunday after missing most of two games with lower-back spasms, the Chiefs lost Kingsley Suamataia and Taylor to injuries on Sunday.

At one point in the loss, the only Week 1 starters in front of Mahomes were Smith and center Creed Humphrey. Suamataia returned to the game but Taylor didn’t. He missed all but the first snap of the fourth quarter with a right ankle injury.

The bye is coming at a good time for the Chiefs to hopefully heal Taylor and potentially return Simmons.

“Yeah, listen,” Reid said after the game, “I’ve got a good locker room in there. So, rest up and they’ll come back strong. That’s what we do. Guys that are nicked up here, throughout the year here, they’ve got to make sure they get in and get worked on.”